1. Cross-Reference to Related Applications
This application is related to pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/705,201, entitled “Processing System and Method For Treating a Substrate”, filed on Nov. 12, 2003; pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/705,200, entitled “Processing System and Method For Chemically Treating a Substrate”, filed on Nov. 12, 2003; pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/704,969, entitled “Processing System and Method For Thermally Treating a Substrate”, filed on Nov. 12, 2003; pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/705,397, entitled “Method and Apparatus For Thermally Insulating Adjacent Temperature Controlled Chambers”, filed on Nov. 12, 2003; pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/812,347, entitled “Processing System and Method For Treating a Substrate”, filed on Mar. 30, 2004; and co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/859,975, entitled “Method of Operating a Processing System for Treating a Substrate”, filed on even date herewith. The entire contents of all of those applications are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
2. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for treating a substrate, and more particularly to a system and method for chemical and thermal treatment of a substrate.
3. Description of the Related Art
During semiconductor processing, a (dry) plasma etch process can be utilized to remove or etch material along fine lines or within vias or contacts patterned on a silicon substrate. The plasma etch process generally involves positioning a semiconductor substrate with an overlying patterned, protective layer, for example a photoresist layer, in a processing chamber. Once the substrate is positioned within the chamber, an ionizable, dissociative gas mixture is introduced within the chamber at a pre-specified flow rate, while a vacuum pump is throttled to achieve an ambient process pressure. Thereafter, a plasma is formed when a fraction of the gas species present are ionized by electrons heated via the transfer of radio frequency (RF) power either inductively or capacitively, or microwave power using, for example, electron cyclotron resonance (ECR).
Moreover, the heated electrons serve to dissociate some species of the ambient gas species and create reactant specie(s) suitable for the exposed surface etch chemistry. Once the plasma is formed, selected surfaces of the substrate are etched by the plasma. The process is adjusted to achieve appropriate conditions, including an appropriate concentration of desirable reactant and ion populations to etch various features (e.g., trenches, vias, contacts, gates, etc.) in the selected regions of the substrate. Such substrate materials where etching is required include silicon dioxide (SiO2), low-k dielectric materials, poly-silicon, and silicon nitride.
During material processing, etching such features generally comprises the transfer of a pattern formed within a mask layer to the underlying film within which the respective features are formed. The mask can, for example, comprise a light-sensitive material such as (negative or positive) photo-resist, multiple layers including such layers as photo-resist and an anti-reflective coating (ARC), or a hard mask formed from the transfer of a pattern in a first layer, such as photo-resist, to the underlying hard mask layer.